Separating 99-04 taillight lens?
03-24-2009, 01:28 PM
#1
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Santa Monica, CA
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Separating 99-04 taillight lens?
I bought a pair of smoked taillights on ebay from some guy who does various cars. Seen his auctions many times and finally decided to get them.... They are sprayed REALLY nicely just as advertised but the problem is the left taillight is messed up...
You know how on our tailights the inside is like shiney plated with the texture of a disco ball? (if you know what I mean)....well on the left one the insides are all chipped and cracked and I know at night it will look like crap. He uses original core returns from previous customers and obviously this set wasn't taken care of very well by the taillight's cars owner.
I'm like exchanging emails with the guy now and he wants me to just send him my left original one so he can spray for free but i'm asking him to send me a replacement so I can send him back the faulty left side taillight. I don't want to be using my original taillights - I want to keep it complete and unsmoked.
Here is a link to the ad:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=260377993003
He sounds like someone who strives for customer satisfaction....yeah until you have a problem and now he is avoiding my emails and I have all but accepted the fact that I am not gonna be helped.
But the smoke job itself is pretty nice so I was wondering whether or not it is possible to remove the lens from the taillight and remove the ones on my car and then swap them? Cause thats pretty much all that I really bought - the smoked lens.
Thanks,
Brandon
You know how on our tailights the inside is like shiney plated with the texture of a disco ball? (if you know what I mean)....well on the left one the insides are all chipped and cracked and I know at night it will look like crap. He uses original core returns from previous customers and obviously this set wasn't taken care of very well by the taillight's cars owner.
I'm like exchanging emails with the guy now and he wants me to just send him my left original one so he can spray for free but i'm asking him to send me a replacement so I can send him back the faulty left side taillight. I don't want to be using my original taillights - I want to keep it complete and unsmoked.
Here is a link to the ad:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=260377993003
He sounds like someone who strives for customer satisfaction....yeah until you have a problem and now he is avoiding my emails and I have all but accepted the fact that I am not gonna be helped.
But the smoke job itself is pretty nice so I was wondering whether or not it is possible to remove the lens from the taillight and remove the ones on my car and then swap them? Cause thats pretty much all that I really bought - the smoked lens.
Thanks,
Brandon
03-24-2009, 01:59 PM
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03-24-2009, 02:41 PM
#3
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Join Date: May 2008
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I had those exact ones from stangmods before and I didn't like it. I also ordered their black-out one recently and I just returned it.
It looks a lot better sprayed - only if done properly...thats the thing. This guy does it REALLY well
It looks a lot better sprayed - only if done properly...thats the thing. This guy does it REALLY well
03-25-2009, 08:23 PM
#7
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: RI
Posts: 199
Hey Brandon,
You definitely can't beat the look of a professional spray and clear coat. I have been trying to convince members of that for awhile with no luck. So you went that route and bought them from a painter on ebay who from the looks of it has a pretty good little side biz goin on the bay, BUT he uses old taillights either from swap credits from customers or junkyard finds. Here's your problem. You could heat it up with a heat gun and separate the lens, swap it over your originals then reseal it and bake it..It's a process and yeah last resort but you PAID $180, so for you to have to do that or even worse spray it yourself totally defeats the purpose of spending that much. My suggestion is to e-mail him one last time telling him you are going to open a case with ebay and paypal and will be leaving negative feedback. You shouldn't have to give up one of your own taillights for this. If you do then he should refund you half the cost. Why have to break up a set of taillights for his fug up.
If you can get all your money back and not lose any in the return process then go that route. If you take your originals to a body shop they will do it for you for less than what you paid on ebay. Most likely 100 or so.
You definitely can't beat the look of a professional spray and clear coat. I have been trying to convince members of that for awhile with no luck. So you went that route and bought them from a painter on ebay who from the looks of it has a pretty good little side biz goin on the bay, BUT he uses old taillights either from swap credits from customers or junkyard finds. Here's your problem. You could heat it up with a heat gun and separate the lens, swap it over your originals then reseal it and bake it..It's a process and yeah last resort but you PAID $180, so for you to have to do that or even worse spray it yourself totally defeats the purpose of spending that much. My suggestion is to e-mail him one last time telling him you are going to open a case with ebay and paypal and will be leaving negative feedback. You shouldn't have to give up one of your own taillights for this. If you do then he should refund you half the cost. Why have to break up a set of taillights for his fug up.
If you can get all your money back and not lose any in the return process then go that route. If you take your originals to a body shop they will do it for you for less than what you paid on ebay. Most likely 100 or so.
03-25-2009, 08:45 PM
#9
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Thanks for the replies and thanks gec. Yes I have previously had vinyl tints and tried others and finally decided to pull the trigger on these since they looked so good. I know that 90% of the time spray tint looks like **** but I've been very impressed with the quality of his sprayjob and upon receiving the product, the smoke job looks top notch.
I have exchanged some 30 some emails with him and even filed a claim with paypal. The problem was before buying the product, we exchanged several emails and then he sent me a request on paypal for the payment of a product and it went through that instead of ebay. He sold it to me for $160 shipped so it was a slightly better deal then buying it from his ebay auction.
I filed a dispute claim with paypal and then even escalated it to a paypal claim but soon got a response (and probably an automatic one) saying that because the dispute is about the quality/condition of the product and not actually about receiving it itself, they cannot help me and the case was closed.
I also found out that 2 plastic tabs on each taillight had been broken off but this was the least of my worries. Yes I have told him many times that he has stated in his ad that they were in either new or perfect condition.
It's funny because you hear about horror stories about buying stuff from people all the time but you never think it would happen to you...especially from a guy like this who seems to sell them a lot and for many cars.
We have exchanged many emails and right now he has all but told me to **** off. I am confident that this is it and he will not be helping me anymore. I am planning on posting this in as many forums as I can so I can get the word out.
This is a REAL disappointment for me. This sprayjob is so nice in person and I am extremely impressed, I even told him this many times. But right now the bottom line is he is through with me and theres is nothing I can do except try to see if I can remove the lens but it is still on there pretty good and I am nervous about baking them.
Brandon
I have exchanged some 30 some emails with him and even filed a claim with paypal. The problem was before buying the product, we exchanged several emails and then he sent me a request on paypal for the payment of a product and it went through that instead of ebay. He sold it to me for $160 shipped so it was a slightly better deal then buying it from his ebay auction.
I filed a dispute claim with paypal and then even escalated it to a paypal claim but soon got a response (and probably an automatic one) saying that because the dispute is about the quality/condition of the product and not actually about receiving it itself, they cannot help me and the case was closed.
I also found out that 2 plastic tabs on each taillight had been broken off but this was the least of my worries. Yes I have told him many times that he has stated in his ad that they were in either new or perfect condition.
It's funny because you hear about horror stories about buying stuff from people all the time but you never think it would happen to you...especially from a guy like this who seems to sell them a lot and for many cars.
We have exchanged many emails and right now he has all but told me to **** off. I am confident that this is it and he will not be helping me anymore. I am planning on posting this in as many forums as I can so I can get the word out.
This is a REAL disappointment for me. This sprayjob is so nice in person and I am extremely impressed, I even told him this many times. But right now the bottom line is he is through with me and theres is nothing I can do except try to see if I can remove the lens but it is still on there pretty good and I am nervous about baking them.
Brandon
03-25-2009, 08:50 PM
#10
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Join Date: May 2008
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What I also find very disappointing was how he noted about wanting maximum customer satisfaction all over his ads and also in the packing into sheet he included with the taillights.
Like I said we have exchanged some 30 emails and I have kindly asked him to help me a several times. I'm gonna try to post a copy of the emails starting from the first one I sent asking him about the status of the shipment:
Like I said we have exchanged some 30 emails and I have kindly asked him to help me a several times. I'm gonna try to post a copy of the emails starting from the first one I sent asking him about the status of the shipment: